Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: A research team has managed to coordinate 100 domestic air
 conditioners to stabilise the power grid in real time, as if they were a
 flexible power plant.
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2025 14:39:41 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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On 6/15/2025 1:22 AM, Don Y wrote:
> On 6/15/2025 12:40 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2025-06-15 00:29, Don Y wrote:
>>> On 6/14/2025 2:53 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>>> That's not what they are doing. They are changing the load in tiny parts of 
>>>> the cycle, 50 or 60 times per second. Changing the load waveform.
>>>
>>> No, they are deferring the start of the compressor and/or blower.
>>
>> I understand they are adjusting the frequency.
> 
> "The air conditioners were connected to control boards capable of modifying
> the on/off cycle of the compressor depending on the frequency of the grid."
> 
> I.e., deciding when the compressor would run and when it would NOT run.
> E.g., They aren't talking about using VFDs for the compressors.
> Rather, they are trying to alter when compressors are engaged to better
> balance the load so a given "supply" can remain more constant.
> 
> [The frequency of the supply varies depending on how outsized the
> load happens to be at any given point in time]

Here's the original paper:
     <https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/2522674>

In their description of the hardware, you can see that they simply bodged the
role of the thermostat to force the compressor on/off per *their* dictates
instead of letting it simply track the interior temperature of the edifice.

>> My AC doesn't have a thermostat, 
> 
> Then how does it know when to run and not run?
> 
>> it is continuously adjusted in tiny power adjustments with an inverter. 
>> Switching a thermostat on/off would destroy it.
> 
> So, in winter, it still cools?
> 
>